Pete Kuykendall

Peter Van Kuykendall (January 15, 1938 – August 24, 2017) also known as Pete Roberts, was an American bluegrass musician, songwriter, discographer and a magazine and music publisher. He was a co-founder of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine and its editor since 1970. He was instrumental in the formation of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) in 1985 and the International Bluegrass Music Museum (IBMM) in 1991. In 1996, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.

Career After high school, he studied at Capitol Radio and Electronics Institute (CREI) transferring recordings from fragile discs and cylinders to magnetic tape. He also worked as a broadcast technician at WETA-TV 26 in Washington, DC. He built Wynwood Recording Studio in the basement of his house in Falls Church, Virginia and recorded Mississippi John Hurt there in 1964 and many other blues, bluegrass and country music performers over the years. He produced several albums for the Country Gentlemen, Folklorist and music scholar Neil V. Rosenberg has called him "the first discographer of bluegrass music."

Songwriter He composed and arranged songs, often using his stage-name, Pete Roberts, that are now standards in bluegrass, including: "Down Where The Still Waters Flow", "I Am Weary (Let Me Rest)" – used in the soundtrack of the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, "Journey's End", "No Blind Ones There", "Out On The Ocean", "Remembrance Of You" and "Rollin' Stone". His own music publishing company is Wynwood Music. From 1972 to 1980, Bluegrass Unlimited, i.e. Kuykendall, produced the Indian Springs Bluegrass Festival near Hagerstown, Maryland, 17 times.

Influence Steve Spence, former managing editor at Bluegrass Unlimited, called Kuykendall "one of the foremost authorities on the history of bluegrass" and also said of him: "Kuykendall is as integral a part of the success of bluegrass music over the past five decades as any one person you are likely to find. He has been a performer, a songwriter, a magazine and music publisher, an event promoter, a disc jockey, a record producer, booking agent..."

Death Pete Kuykendall died in his sleep in a nursing facility in Warrenton, Virginia, on August 24, 2017 at the age of 90.